Agile Marketing Methodologies: A Skeptical Comparison

Sometimes I believe the internet is actively engaged in destroying my ability to get writing done (I’m looking at you, YouTube).

But this morning, as I was sipping my first cup of coffee and reviewing my Google Alert for “agile marketing,” I came across this utterly perfect line from Skyword’s Lauren Sozio:

Just because I had set up a Scrumban for my team didn’t mean that I was any closer to getting us to act like an agile team.

Six months into her resolution to “go agile,” Sozio was in a common trap: she was spending hours upon hours researching, testing, and evangelizing agile tools.

Her focus had moved away from the tenets of the Agile Marketing Manifesto and onto which shiny software system could magically transform her team. In a world full of big promises from big software companies, it’s easy to fall prey to this siren song.

Let’s take a moment to step back and remember why nerds like me are so excited about Agile Marketing in the first place. Then, I want to do a quick run through of the four most common methodologies to remind us all that there are many, many ways to DO agile.

Ultimately it doesn’t really matter which one we choose, as long as we’re BEING agile in the process.

Consider how much better your professional life would be if your entire team got more productive.

Finally, if we had a dollar for every time we had to explain “what marketing does” to someone from another department, we probably wouldn’t have to worry about our productivity, because we could just retire now.

Using agile marketing to improve project visibility across the organization is a huge benefit.

4 Commons Ways to DO Agile

The majority of software teams are still using Scrum, or some variation on that methodology, but VersionOne found that more than 39% of their respondents are now practicing Kanban. That’s up 8% from 2014.

At the same time, iteration planning (typically associated with Scrum) dropped from 71% adoption to 69%, “likely indicating a transition to more flow-based methods such as Lean and Kanban.”

Agile marketers may not be as keen on Scrum as their development counterparts. A recent study by Wrike showed a preference for Lean and Kanban, with Scrum coming in dead last.

Source: Wrike State of Marketing Work 2016

What does this discrepancy tell us? There is no “one size fits all” approach to agility.

We need to approach our methodologies with the same critical, experimental eye we use on our projects, tasks, and teams.

Scrum for Marketing Fail?

There was no doubt that I found a lot of truth in the agile manifesto, but philosophically, I had a hard time believing that in order to be agile, I had to adopt all ceremonies. This seemed inflexible for a methodology that is grounded in adaptability.

For my team at SurveyGizmo, keeping sprints sacred has proved nearly impossible with heavily involved executives and constantly shifting priorities.

On the other hand, there’s a lot of inherent value in the Scrum methodology.

Scrum Compatibility for Marketing Teams

Scrum forces us to learn to use two powerful but problematic words for marketers: “Not yet.”

We have to learn to prioritize instead of just agreeing to do everything right now.

In organizations with little experience with agility, Scrum can work as a great starting point. It provides structure, clear roles, and lots of readily available information.

Small teams (less than four people) probably aren’t going to get much value out of this approach, however, and those who are already comfortable with the agile mindset may find it irksome.

Pull Based Kanban Systems

Kanban can be challenging because it makes more demands on an individual team to define their parameters:

You’ve got to decide what your Work in Progress (WIP) Limits are. How many things can each person be working on? How many things can be in QA or review?

Policies that govern workflow must be determined. If you’re going to use retrospectives, you need to decide when they happen. Will you do daily standup? What defines “done” for each phase of your marketing life cycle?

Individual marketers are responsible for pulling work from the backlog. If you’ve got underperforming or under-committed team members they can be a big detriment.

On the other hand, these demands make Kanban a much more flexible system. It adapts to changing demands more readily, and it can feel freer and less restrictive.

Keep in mind that marketing teams that are very deadline-focused may not find Kanban to be a good fit. If you know you need work completed by a certain date, aligning sprints with that deadline may work better.

Scrumban: With Our Powers Combined…

Looking for a Goldilocks version of an agile methodology? Scrumban may be what you need.

It offers a combination of Scrum ceremonies with Kanban’s pull-based flow.

It’s the roles of Scrum — Product Owner, Scrum Master, and “Developers” — that are often the pieces of that methodology that don’t quite fit on a marketing team. That means that Scrumban, which holds on to ceremonies but lets go of Scrum roles, may be a good solution.

Lean Marketing: Is That Even a Thing?

Many people refer to Kanban as a lean approach because it focuses on waste reduction. Others will balk at hearing Lean called “agile” at all.

In my humble opinion, a rose by any other name is just as agile.

Or something like that.

What I mean is that we shouldn’t quibble about language. Find what works. Do more like that.

Many marketers use Lean practices like minimum viable products and rapid iterations without realizing that’s what they’re doing. Thanks in part to Eric Ries’ wildly successful book, The Lean Startup, these are becoming increasingly common tactics in businesses of all sizes.

Proceed With Caution (and Agility)

Before you spend dozens of team hours training on new tools and techniques, evaluate all your options.

Commit to trying the methodology that seems best for your team with the minimum viable amount of investment, then examine its successes and failures. Iterate on what worked; ruthlessly abandon what didn’t.

Don’t feel compelled to try things that feel wrong just because lots of people do things that way.

Teams and methodologies should be just as agile as individuals and organizations, and a healthy dose of skeptical experimentation can help us get there.

Andrea loves to dissect marketing buzzwords and fads looking for the pearls of wisdom at their cores. Her favorite topic is agile marketing, which she believes holds the key to a more fulfilling (and less stressful) marketing career for individuals and a more powerful marketing department for business.
When not scrutinizing the latest agile methodologies, Andrea can be found on the volleyball court, at the park with her two delightful kids, or baking “calorie-free” cookies.
Connect with her on Twitter @AndreaFryrear, or on LinkedIn.

MarketerGizmo’s goal is to provide marketing tools and information that allow marketers to become more agile, increase their marketing intelligence, and empower them to excel professionally. Find out more about us.